Dried Up Tears
by fately
Summary: AU; He hated it when girls cried. P3, light Protagonist/Fem Protagonist


**Title **: Dried Up Tears

**Pairing **: light Minato (protagonist)/ Minako (female protagonist)

**Rating** : T - language.

**Summary**: AU; He hated it when girls cried.

This shipping is _so_ interesting. I never thought I'd write something about these guys again, but here I am. So, this is officially my second protagonist/fem protagonist story, I guess.

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_Dried Up Tears_

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He hated it when girls cried.

It's not that he was a horrible person, or rude-...Okay, maybe. It's just that when a girl cries, it makes him feel really, really awkward. He feels like he's done something terrible (even though this is, most of the times, not the case), and feel like somebody's going to blame him for something he didn't do. It happened once in elementary school, when a girl tripped in the hallway- she began to cry, and the poor boy just happened to be the one closest to her- and without much discussion, the innocent boy was immediately blamed for her tears.

Ever since that event, he merely walks away when a girl shows the first signs of tears (as horrible as this sounds, he doesn't really understand girls in the first place). Sure, he's been called 'heartless' and 'cold', but he still doesn't want to get caught up in the mess of a crying girl. That's just the way he functioned.

It seemed as if nobody was capable of changing him.

It was a rainy day, and he walked into the student council room with his music turned on very loud- he slightly hummed to a favorite tune of his as he walked towards Mitsuru's desk, searching for a brown file she requested. He looked around, and found a brown file labeled something he couldn't figure out- obviously Misturu was tired from all her duties when writing the label, as it looked more like a doodle than handwriting.

He turned around to go hand over the file to the upperclassman when he found something unexpected in the room.

Oops, no. Scratch that. _Somebody_ unexpected. He peered over the figure sitting on the sofa. He certainly didn't notice her here until now- obviously he was too absorbed in his music. She was curled up into a tight ball, her forehead on her knees, and she pulled herself together. Did she even notice he came in the room? He frowned.

She looked up when she felt a certain presence in the room, leaning over her, "Ah!" She jumped slightly when she saw him- obviously she was surprised, "I...I'm sorry. I didn't notice you came in-" She was extremely flustered- he frowned again, please, don't act like you've seen a ghost or something- I'm not that scary, am I? "So...sorry, it's not that...um.. I was just sort of absorbed in my music... Sorry..." She replied, all flustered, and took her headphones off and placed them around her neck, as he usually does.

Really, the more often he sees her, the more she seems to resemble him- a crazy thought, but still evidently true. He nodded-

But then, he noticed something unexpected again on her face. He immediately took his headphones off and hung them around his next as well. And then he stared at her face intensely and asked,

"Were you crying?"

She was at a lost for words- Ever since her transfer to the school (which has been quite a few months, actually, just a tad bit over a semester), she has never heard him talk before, despite the fact that she was in the same modern literature, physical education, and biology class as him. _Plus _student council. She's not in _any _of Akihiko senpai's classes, yet she's talked to senpai more often than she has ever talked to this guy before.

"N...no- I...I'm fine," He didn't seemed convinced though, as even with his oblivious knowledge about girls, it was obvious that those were dried up tears on her cheek, "I'm fine...! Really!"

He sat down on the sofa, and silently awaited for her reply. It was as if he was anticipating an explanation, and urging her to say something. She, however, did not give any sort of comment, as if in defiance to be weak, to be dependent on somebody. He grumbled- god damn women and their unpredictable actions- why can't she be like a typical heartbroken teen girl and just tell him everything- it wasn't everyday he offered to be nice and listen to a weeping girl's tale.

"You can tell me what happened," he finally said first. She shook her head.

"It's fine. There's nothing to tell you- thank you for your generosity though," He tilted his head at her unexpectedly formal answer, wow- stubborn. Can't you just spill it? You've already been caught tearing up- why can't you just say it? I already know that something not right. Despite the fact that he's never talked to her directly before, he felt the need to help her- he had no idea why though. If this was the usual scenario, he'd probably already walked away the first moment he saw that watery glance in her eyes.

"...Failed a test?"

She laughed a bit- Okay, maybe that wasn't the right thing to say.

"Lost your lunch money?"

She shook her head and laughed some more. He frowned. Hey, I'm trying to help you here. Maybe you can stop laughing at me. But nevertheless, the fact that she wasn't crying made him feel a bit relieved. He had no clue why though- it wasn't like this girl meant anything important to him- hell, he's never talked to her before this moment.

"Breakup?" He asked innocently.

No laugh followed this time.

Damn- he mentally gave himself the facepalm- way to choose the wrong thing to say, idiot. He carefully glanced at her. She wasn't crying, much to his relief, but the look on her face was sickening. She looked absolutely crushed- she was trying to hide it the best she could, but it wasn't possible to conceal the broken up emotions she was experiencing. He frowned. He'd rather that she cries. Now that she looks so totally heartbroken, it was difficult to not sympathize with her.

No, it was more than just sympathy. It was almost as if he was feeling heartbroken inside as well- as if he was feeling the same emotions she was feeling.

He didn't say anything after that, feeling that it was better if he didn't say anything. He was an idiot- he should have known better than to try to deal with a crying girl. He's terrible with them.

"I...I was stood up," She murmured under her breath, ever so faintly- but he heard it. He heard it loud and clear. She gave a artificial grin, as if trying to mask away something inner, deep within her- she doesn't usually go talk about her personal life with strangers, but she felt she could trust him with this, "I...I was going to tell him how I felt about him, and I even told him to come, because I had something important to say... But he stood up on me. Maybe I...I was just excited for nothing. I made a fool out of myself..." She mumbled- with a tint of sadness and regret.

He wanted to reach out and pat her head, say something nice, and offer to buy her ice cream as comfort food, but nothing came out of his mouth, his hands wouldn't move. He was just sitting there. Like an idiot.

"...It would have been better if he just refused me...He didn't even come." Her voice trembled with sorrow. He hissed, what an ass. It was obvious that she was going to confess, yet this guy didn't even come- that's even worse that refusing- not even coming is like saying: 'I don't want to deal with you'.

He hesitated.

He pulled out his music player and fiddled with it. Then he offered one side of his headphones to her. She looked at the headphones, slightly surprised. She pointed at herself and mouthed something along the lines of 'me?'. He nodded.

She took one side and put it on her ear. It was a song she's never heard before- a rock song. Not something you'd usually offer to a girl who has just been stood up. But nevertheless, she listened.

They listened.

The rain seemed to continue, but they were absorbed by the beats of the song, that the drops of the rain made no difference at all to them.

It was almost as if they were in their own little bubble, their own little world- unaffected by the outside surroundings. Soon, she even forgot why she was here in the first place and just focused on the music. It was almost as if she was tuning into the music- with him. It was a strange feeling, she had never felt so close to somebody- especially to somebody she had never talked to before this very day.

But, nevertheless the amount of time they've known each other- she felt connected to him.

She decided to talk more often to him from now on. Maybe they'll become friends.

* * *

"What kind of idiot falls asleep in the student council room?"

"These idiots." Mitsuru hissed, "Leave them alone, they'll wake up sooner or later." She glanced over at the two underclassman, the red-tint brunette girl and the blue-headed boy. Really, these idiots, "We should take pictures, Akihiko. We'll be able to tease them about this later. We should text Shinjiro about this."

"You are unexpectedly very, _very_ evil." The man sounded concerned. She frowned and glared at him.

"Think of it as a type of punishment... Punishment for not diligently doing as what I told him to do. Come on, you move his hand- that way it'll look like they're holding hands. I'm getting my cellphone camera out, come on." The woman searched through her skirt pocket, pulling out a cellphone. Akihiko sighed- Whatever happens as the aftermath of this, I am not responsible for any of it.

Needless to say, Shinjiro got a text five minutes later. Attached was an interesting picture of two underclassmen he knew particularly well.

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_**End**_

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I like this one. I was trying to put this as Shinjiro/female protagonist or Akihiko/female protagonist, but Protagonist works better for some reason.


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